45 comments so far

They’re coming and will probably eat the largest cockneys first. Just not sure that we can wait that long.

Scientists searching for extraterrestrial life say they have spotted 72 mysterious signals from an alien galaxy using artificial intelligence (AI). The researchers at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute discovered the unusual signals when examining 400 terabytes of radio data from a dwarf galaxy three billion light years away from Earth.

c-dog from previous “given he has nobody looking over his shoulder at newcastle how much you reckon he has siphoned out of the club”

Probably very little directly. In order to do so he’d have to pay a dividend direct to MASH Holdings which would be taxable at 7%, then he would have to pay himself a dividend again at 7%. This is not an efficient use of money and Mike Ashley, while ruthless, is not wasteful.

What is of more concern is the likes of the food and drinks concessions, contracts paid directly to MASH Holdings instead of to NUFC. Also the fact the club shop is now a Sports Direct outlet, so all the profits from there go direct to Sports Direct not the club. I imagine the profits from Shearers bar (sorry, Nine bar) also go that way.

The deeds to Strawberry Place have been given away, we don’t receive any money from SD for in-stadium advertising and he keeps saddling us with sponsorship from companies he has a vested interest in such as Vitality.

RobLeenio @4 – I think you are spot on. Ashley can’t just take money from NUFC and put it in his back pocket to buy HOF etc, without being subject to tax, like some posters suggest BUT he is siphoning money out via the backdoor methods you say.

You’re not really playing with a full deck are you, either that or your trolling seriously needs upping several levels.

KK gave me the happiest and best ever football watching times and it saddens me to hear someone like Jib besmirch a guy with such NUFC folklore and stature in favour of an out an out wrongun that is our inglorious leader.

Jib @18 – I think siphoning is a very apt word as the revenue streams that Robleenio mentioned earlier that would normally go into NUFC are being diverted into Ashley owned companies or holdings. Ashley has had to prop the club up with loans after 2 relegations both due to his own incompetent management decisions. However I’m still pretty sure he is getting more out of the club than he has to put in otherwise why would he not have bitten Amanda’s hand off and the sold the club to her if it was such as money pit?

I posed the question that if, Jail got his wish, would Ashley be able to still run his company, the obvious answer I suppose is yes through his minions. So him going to prison wouldn’t make any difference to the club, unfortunately.

Wayayman, it’s not just fans of NUFC who will be giving Ashley a hard time, his own shareholders have major gripes with the way he runs Sports Direct. He tried to give his brother an £11M bonus last year, has given his soon-to-be son-in-law a £5M job and dropped a lucrative logistics contract in his brother’s lap with no competitive process.

The shareholders have seen the value of their shares fall, have not been getting dividends and have seen Ashley’s shoe-in choice of Chairman, who is supposed to be impartial, stubbornly refuse to step down when challenged via numerous votes of no confidence.

Ashley won’t be there to take the flack which is undoubtedly coming the way of the board, but one to watch out for is Keith Hellawell, an ex-copper who once interviewed Peter Sutcliffe and rose to be Chief Constable of West Yorks Police, briefly a major player in the Blair government. Feel free to give him any message you want to pass to Ashley as he is essentially Ashley’s stooge on the SD board.

health update

The stage four cancer remains stabilized and while the PSA count has risen a little, there's no evidence the cancer has spread.

I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in early 2017 after being in remission for six years.

There is no cure - but there are treatments to prevent the cancer from spreading further.

I am so thankful for the latest results and in awe of the doctors and nurses at the Rex Cancer Center in Raleigh, North Carolina

Now when is Rafa going to sign his new deal and start making Newcastle great again?

Ed Harrison

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